Eighteen years after Punjab’s former Chief Minister Beant Singh was assassinated in a terrorist attack in 1995, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday released a postage stamp in his memory saying that it is the duty of every citizen to fight against the divisive forces that are posing a threat to the country.
Recalling Beant Singh’s “strong and determined” leadership during Punjab’s turbulent times, he said that as a Chief Minister, he brought the state to normalcy after years of terrorist violence.
“Restoring peace in Punjab during those difficult days was no easy task and it is a tribute to the extraordinary leadership qualities of Sardar Beant Singh that he succeeded in doing so… If our society is largely peaceful and secular today, it is only because of the courage and patriotism of people like Sardar Beant Singh,” the Prime Minister said after releasing the stamp at New Delhi.
Beant Singh was assassinated in a human-bomb attack in the Punjab Civil Secretariat complex in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995. Even as the Postal Department has decided to release the stamp in the first week of the September, it was released on Tuesday.
The decision was taken after a request was made by Beant Singh’s family to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who said that Beant Singh is “best remembered for providing strong and determined leadership to Punjab in very troubled times”.